**4.3. Guillaume Rondelet**

10 New Approaches to the Study of Marine Mammals

**Figure 1.** Illustrations of marine mammals by Belon (1551): (a) and (b) are representations of the common dolphin (*Delphinus delphis*); (c) a porpoise (*Phocaena phocaena*); (d) a bottlenose dolphin (*Tursiops truncatus*, although he uses the name of "Orca") presumably giving birth; (e) the skull of a dolphin; (f) a porpoise fetus in a placenta, showing that he had actually dissected these animals.

(e) (f)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Rondelet**10** was the son of a drug and spice merchant. He studied medicine at the University of Montpellier, one of the best medical schools in Europe at that time. While in Paris he studied anatomy under Johannes Guinther, who also taught Vesalius. Rondelet would later become Professor of medicine and Chancellor at Montpellier (Keller 1975). He probably acquired his interest in ichthyology at a young age while living in Montpellier (about 12 km from the coast) because his family owned a farm that was a stopping place for carts of fish from the Mediterranean (Oppenheimer 1936). During his trips as personal physician to Francois Cardinal Tournon (who was also the patron of Belon) to the Atlantic coasts of France, he became acquainted with the whaling industry. Rondelet met several contemporary ichthyologists while in Rome (1549-1550) such as Belon, Hippolyto Salviani, and Ulyssis Aldronvandi (Gudger 1934). Guillaume Pellicer, Bishop of Montpellier, who was also interested in fishes but never published on ichthyology, may have influenced Rondelet (Oppenheimer 1936, Dulieu, 1966).

He enjoyed dissecting and did so frequently for both teaching and research purposes. He published *Libri de Piscibus Marinis in quibus verae Piscium effigies expressae sunt* (1554) with a second part titled *Universae Aquatilium Historiae pars altera* (1555) about both marine and freshwater animals. Both were later translated into French as *L'histoire entière des poissons* (1558, 599), a monograph for teaching purposes.

After writing about food, habitat, morphology, and physiology, he described 145 freshwater and 190 marine species that included at least seven species of cetaceans: *delphino* (common dolphin), *phocaena* (porpoise), *tursione* (bottlenose dolphin, although the illustration more resembles a porpoise), *balaena vulgo* and *balaena vera* (two different species of mysticetes whose true identities are difficult to ascertain), *orca* (killer whale), and *physetere* (sperm whale) (Fig. 2). He also included among cetaceans the *priste* (sawfish) and mythical animals such as Pliny's *scolopendra cetacea*, the *monstruo leonino* (a lion covered with scales and with a human face), the *pisce monachi habitu* (a fish that looks like a monk), and the *pisce Episcopi habitu* (a fish that looks like a bishop) of which he was skeptic. All together his book contained more species than previous published works. Each species description included

<sup>10</sup> *b*. 27 September 1507, Montpellier, France; *d*. 30 July 1566, Réalmont, Tarn, France

the animal's name in different languages, their morphology (external and internal), feeding habits, and use as food for humans. Species were differentiated similarly to Aristotle as blooded and non-blooded. Although Aristotle inspired the entire book, including teleological considerations in his discussions, Rondelet added some original ideas, especially concerning anatomy and descriptions of the small cetaceans he dissected. Rondelet made correlations between form, function, and environment.

When Whales Became Mammals:

The Scientific Journey of Cetaceans From Fish to Mammals in the History of Science 13

Despite noting differences, he grouped marine mammals with fish based on habitat. For example, he noted that fishes with scales lack lungs and have a three-chamber heart while what we know today as marine mammals have hearts with four chambers. He compared the anatomy of a dolphin to that of the pig and humans. Based on this and his descriptions of other internal organs, he considered marine mammals to be a type of aquatic quadruped. Yet, he did not propose a system of classification. He did not advance the notion of valid classification, but because of the quality of his descriptions his work remained as the main

Gessner11 probably developed an interest in zoology after seeing the carcasses of furred animals at his father's workshop where several furriers worked. He also lived with a greatuncle, an herbalist, who furthered his interest in natural history (Bay 1916, Gmelig-Nijboer 1977, p. 17, Wellisch 1984, p. 1). He was an avid traveler who studied theology and medicine in Bourges, Paris, Montpellier, and Basel (Fischer 1966) and had great facility for classical languages. During his travels Gessner met with Belon and Rondelet. He is considered as the "father of bibliography" because of his work on compiling information about books (Bay 1916). Gessner himself had a very large private library of more than 400 volumes (which was a very large private collection for his time) of which 19% of the volumes were on natural history and 13 of them were on zoology (Leu et al. 2008, pp. viii, 1, 13, 21). He published *Historiae Animalium* (1551-1558), an encyclopedic (4 volumes, 4,500 pages treatise) but uncritical compilation of information and bibliography in which he intended to itemize all of God's creations. In addition to classic authors such as Aristotle and Pliny, Gessner obtained information from whomever he could correspond. He classified cetaceans among 'aquatic animals,' i.e., including fishes. The fourth volume (*Piscium & Aquatilium*) of 1297 pages was published in 1558 and was about the aquatic animals. A fifth volume on reptiles and arthropods was not published until 1587, posthumously. *Historiae* was added to the list of prohibited books because Gessner was Protestant. Yet, the 14 editions in different

Gessner followed Aristotle's classification of animals when it came to their grouping by volume (Vol. 1: viviparous quadrupeds; Vol. 2: oviparous quadrupeds; Vol. 3: birds; Vol. 4: aquatic animals; Vol. 5: serpents). He ordered them alphabetically, like a "Dictionarium," in each volume, which did not provide a rational classification based on relationships of any kind; on the other hand this alphabetical order facilitated its use as an encyclopedic source. Gessner's intention was to collect any piece of information ever written about each animal by any author in history, he cited nearly 250 authors including Rondelet (*Libri de Piscibus Marinis*, 1554), Belon (*De Aquatilibus*,1553), and Salviani (*Aquatilium Animalium*, 1554). The

reference for about 100 years.

languages of this book reveal its popularity.

latter only mentioned marine mammals *in passim*.

<sup>11</sup> *b*. 16 March 1516, Zürich, Switzerland; *d*. 13 December 1565, Zürich.

**4.4. Conrad Gessner** 

**Figure 2.** Illustrations of marine mammals by Rondelet (1554): (a) a dolphin showing a fetus surrounded by a placenta indicating it was a viviparous animal; (b) a porpoise; (c) an unidentified species of mysticete, probably a right whale because may have been observed by Rondelet during a whaling operation in the Atlantic; (d) an unidentified species of mysticete that he never saw as evidenced by the depiction of barbels above the mouth; (e) orca (*Orcinus orca*); (f) a sperm whale (*Physeter macrocephalus*).

Despite noting differences, he grouped marine mammals with fish based on habitat. For example, he noted that fishes with scales lack lungs and have a three-chamber heart while what we know today as marine mammals have hearts with four chambers. He compared the anatomy of a dolphin to that of the pig and humans. Based on this and his descriptions of other internal organs, he considered marine mammals to be a type of aquatic quadruped. Yet, he did not propose a system of classification. He did not advance the notion of valid classification, but because of the quality of his descriptions his work remained as the main reference for about 100 years.
